ANYONE AT HOME?
I haven't written a blog post for a long time - not sure why. In fact I don't seem to be writing anything as intensely as I have in the past. Book seven, provisionally titled BLOOD ON THE NILE, is making much slower progress than the previous six. I guess I've just been concentrating on other projects. But, as my blog seems to be getting quite a number of views lately I thought I'd better write something.
The provisional title of the book may be a little misleading. The reason is that my detective, DI Sonny Russell is tasked with tracking down the origin of some Egyptian artifacts that are thought to have been obtained illegally. His boss, Superintendent Stout, thinks he's the right man as he was out in the East during the war, despite Sonny's protestations that Egypt is a long way from where he was stationed. Now, if I was a full-time writer, with a decent income from writing, I could justify a trip to Egypt for research, but as I'm only a poor part-timer it's unlikely to happen. So It will be the usual Google and Wikipedia searches for information.
As with my other books I try to weave several story threads together and the title of this post is a reference to another of those. Briefly, a man is found dead beneath the cliffs at Pett Level (I'm not giving anything away as this happens early in the book) and a nearby 'sanatorium' comes under suspicion. Strangely though, when the police return, the building is empty and the neighbours can't help. I've just posted on social media, asking where to find information about the ownership of the house and almost immediately a number of people have come back. The Land Registry seems the best port of call. I won't need to actually follow it through - this is fiction, after all - but I now know where the police need to go.
